Let’s get real or we’ll get nowhere2

Friday, 16 April 2010 | Filed under Education

There are people in the country who have done well in the education industry.

Their success is obvious since they run private universities that have attracted thousands of Malaysian and foreign students from around the world. Their big, modern, multi-million-ringgit campuses are completely self-financing.

Private business people have limited resources. That means they must find a formula that works first time and fast or they will be out of business very quickly. Since the private sector is full of successful people, the formulas they use must have worked very well.

The government should welcome these people to help public universities reduce their reliance on government funding and increase their revenue. One way is by recruiting more international students.

I am confident the private sector will cooperate.

The private sector has always been supportive of government policies and directives that promote mutual benefit; that expand business opportunities; that help build the future of our country.

Competition will spur improvement

Competition between the public and private universities in the international student market will spur improvement in standards.

The quality experience of Malaysian universities will strengthen the reputation of Malaysian education and enhance the attraction of the country as a centre for tertiary education.

That would be good for the long-term development of the industry.

If Malaysia develops into a preferred destination for tertiary education in the world – which I am sure can happen – both public and private universities will gain. And the country will gain.

In today’s borderless business environment, we have no choice but to work in ways that will enable us to become the best in the world in whatever we choose to do. Because only the best will survive the global competition and prosper.

And the best and most efficient country is one where all stakeholders work closely together – supporting, facilitating and learning from one another.

The government system must work in tandem with the private sector. They form the two sides of the same coin.

We must move forward as one team, not two pulling in opposite directions. It should be Team Malaysia, winning for Malaysia.

Administrators and the industry must work together to deal with education providers who make mistakes or are not doing things the proper way.

Both parties should contribute input to decide the best path to take in going forward. It should not be a case of one party applying and the other rejecting for non-compliance of rules, however minor. That is not working together.

Creativity the way to move forward

The control system should encourage creativity and innovation by reducing punitive measures rather than focusing on getting people to conform.

Conformity is maintaining the status quo.

Creativity is the way to move forward. It produces, encourages exploration, motivates people to go the extra mile to innovate, and brings about more imaginative solutions.

Private companies have to innovate or lose their competitiveness and perish.

It’s important for administrators to understand the ways of the business world. Otherwise, we will not get anywhere.

We say we want to attract 100,000 students from overseas. That is not a big figure, given the huge, and growing, global international student market.

According to Unesco, over 2.5 million students were educated at the tertiary level outside their home countries in 2006, up from an estimated 1.7 million in 2000. IDP Education Australia predicted that by 2025, almost eight million students would be educated transnationally.

But what are the authorities doing about getting the 100,000?

Since private universities in the country attract the most number of foreign students, then we should design a strategy to further develop this sector and make it a bigger money spinner.

When private universities win the battle for international students, it is the country that wins.

Essential to build creativity ecosystem

These days, we also talk a lot about promoting creativity and creative industries.

However, most people don’t understand what creativity means or know how to nurture it.

They say let’s put creativity into our teaching. That doesn’t make sense. Creativity should be embedded in everything that we do.

Farmers who find a better way to get things done, a cheaper way, a more productive way, are using creativity to arrive at better solutions that give them better results.

The entrepreneur who creates a new business, the engineer who designs a new highway, the architect who conceives a new building, the educator who creates an environment in school where students and teachers are comfortable exploring ideas, and the accountant who devises a new solution also are involved in creative work.

The process of encouraging creativity and building innovation should be systematic. It must begin with putting in place the ecosystem where new ideas are encouraged, recognised and celebrated.

Learning with multimedia

We also should be looking at using the latest technology to teach our young people.

Here, too, people talk about improving locally produced films and television programmes but then want to exclude multimedia which includes film and television.

The Western world has gone multimedia, with students learning about biology, physics, history, geography and other subjects by using videos.

The students can see how the different parts of the human body function, how the solar system was created, how the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body, and how an airplane or train works. They learn about snow and volcanoes, and they actually see snow falling or a volcano erupting.

Here we are still looking at diagrams.

Pearson, the global leader in educational publishing, provides scientifically research-based print and digital programmes to help students learn at their own pace, in their own way.

All those tapes are in English, the most important language of knowledge.

Here we are still debating which language to use to teach maths and science.

Unless we get together, ensure there is compatibility between the control mechanisms and those who must innovate to propel the country forward, use the best approaches, put in place people who can bring about change, and build the essential ecosystem to promote creativity and innovation, we will fall further behind.